Skip The End Of Shift Gatherings

It is tempting
to reward employees
today
with an end of shift
gathering
– drinks or food
or something similar.

Resist that urge.

Employees have been
working long hours.
They’re tired.
They want to go home
to sleep
and/or spend time
with their loved ones.

A better thank you
would be to send them
home
with a small gift
– maybe a sleep mask
and soothing foot cream
or
a board game
they could play
with their families
or
a mug
with a hot chocolate mix.

An after hours
work event
isn’t a reward
when we’ve been working
long hours.

Reward employees
in another way.

Work Events Aren’t Time Off

A loved one’s employer
organized a fun event
for their employees
on a Friday.

Then they decided
to give everyone
that Friday off
with pay,
whether employees
were going
to the fun event or not.

About 50% of the employees
who signed up
for the fun event
changed their minds
and decided not to attend it.

The organizers were upset.
But they shouldn’t have been.

Because a work organized event
is NOT time off.
It is work,
a more interesting version
of work
but still work.

Employees aren’t spending
the time
with loved ones.
They have to watch
what they say and do.
They have no control
over the activities
or the timing.

It is work
but merely in another guise.

Work events
are different from time off.